tatianareddington

[tatianareddington]

Who’s that funny looking man? It’s a long story, but we finally have time to tell it.

So what just happened? The Blacklist, season 6, episode 22 Robert Diaz Liz: And that’s the plan. And the sooner we execute it the sooner I bring Agnes home. Wait. Is that true??? This is wonderful news. Donald, a word? Russians with diplomatic plates

Elizabeth told me you had a run in with a few Russians. Did you get a name? - No.But a friend of theirs drove a vehicle with diplomatic plates. The consulate is on alert

The consulate is on alert, which means everyone's is.  We've been in worse situations. Those worked out. This will, too. They're actively looking for Katarina. [SIGHS] Masha was bound to find out you aren't who you say you are. What I can't figure out is Dom. - Why would he tell her all that? In an attempt to help her move on. - And she believed him? - She did. So much so that she's decided it's safe to bring her daughter home. [SIGHS] I know Dom meant well. He shouldn't have told her that story. If Moscow is looking for Katarina that could be bad. I want this done before Masha's daughter comes home. The Townsend Directive

The Townsend Directive. It’s in play. Is that why you’re here? He says it’s critical. Not as critical as knowing why you’re here. I said I needed to find my own path. I did. It lead me back to you.

I found her. Where? Paris. You're sure? Oh, my God.

It's her. I'm telling you, Raymond. Paper trails. The passports. The travel. It's her.

Raymond, are you sure about this? If you're not sure … Red: I'm sure.

#TheBlacklist

[tatianareddington]

Katarina Ilya Red

Who is he, who is she, how did he become who he is...

On second look as I soaked in more recent episodes of The Blacklist, I discovered something I hadn’t before. Amidst the ‘it was a horse, it was a mule!’ Fiddler on the Roof type of debate in fansphere, Ilya is Red. No, Katarina became our Red. No someone else entirely emerged - I noticed something I had never noticed before.  An odd, gesture, a question in the movement. Ilya wakes from the darkness, turns on the light, rubs his eyes, then rolls an eye goober between his left thumb and forefinger? ewwww! That’s kind of gross. He even looks at it like he’s studying it.

But then in my re-watch, I noticed something about Katarina I had never noticed before. When she hides in the bathroom stall as the abuse boyfriend bludgeons his girlfriend, the camera pans from floor to Katarina crouched on the toilet.  And, odd, she’s doing something with her left hand, a rubbing of the thumb to the fingers, repeatedly.

Ok, now I’m a little interested, what’s going on here. Until we get to the end of Rassvet and even the beginning of the next episode, as Red speaks with Elizabeth across a restaurant table. He discovers she’s paid a visit to Dom. Knows he’s her grandfather. Got the whole story on Ilya. My what a betrayal. And then there’s this: the left thumb stroking and rubbing the left fingers. Repeatedly. At the restaurant in Hong Kong. At the restaurant in the States.  When he tells her he is conflicted because he cannot trust her, he cannot believe her, and he cannot kill her.

#Redarina Redarina is alive

[tatianareddington]

I LOVE THIS! That’s exactly what I was trying to say.

For @tatianareddington

[tatianareddington]

Raasvet - Rebirth

Redarina is not dead and Ilya is not a new character. Ilya is the male persona within the person we know as Katarina. It is consistent with gender identity dysphoria. That is why 'they' made a pact when they were 6 years old. Because it is often at a young age that people recognize they identify with the opposite gender. It wasn't a separate person Ilya who came up with the plan. "Your mother was one of the most resourceful people I ever knew" It was one and the same. Ilya is Katarina! The pact they made when they were 6? It is not two separate human beings: it's two identities in one person. It's just like the two personas in Cape May. The producers/writers have not fooled us. They have not introduced a new character in the 11th hour. It's been there all along. We just are now introduced to the actuality of her separate gender identity.

#Theblacklist #jon bokenkamp #katarinarostova #Raymondreddington

[tatianareddington]

“Man Makers” and apple boxes

Many people protest against the Redarina theory because they say the actress playing Katarina is too short, despite the fact that in Cape May they are depicted as same height. https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/film/2016/04/tall-and-short-it-does-size-matter-men-hollywood

Apple boxes were so often used to boost shorter actors’ heights – from film noir star Alan Ladd (5’6”) to Tom Cruise (5’7”) – that they became nicknamed “man makers”.

Tansi Farms - The Apple Farm

Oh my god, it doesn't get better than this... Man Makers??? LOL! and "apple boxes"??? omg the apple imagery is everywhere, including Tansi Farms! And an attic full of apple boxes, wooden apple boxes, the kind a person stands on to be as tall as their leading lady:

#the blacklist

[tatianareddington]

One year later and we still have continuity errors pouring into our mythology. Could this be a reason, yet?

Has the Blacklist gone mad?

Art is not a mirror with which to reflect reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.   —–  Bertolt Brecht

The most recent episodes of The Blacklist have been met with dismay by loyal fandom. Comedic interjections and real depictions of child brides are too much. And where are the Easter eggs, Jon? We need more clues! Bloggers, shippers, fan-fiction writers, and Spader adorers are downright angry.

Spader says they are taking a circuitous route.

Really?

Unique in its approach, the Blacklist is something of a conundrum to a viewer programmed to think there is a sacred bond between producer and audience. Loquacious and erudite, our leading man is doing a stand-up comic act as carney style preacher (Pattie Sue Edwards). Timelines don’t match up (wasn’t Samar 12 when her parents died?). Props noticeably change in appearance (wait, even the bones have changed?).

Lines delivered by one actor harken back to a different character. Parallels in stories run rampant. Red and Garvey are mirrors of each other, sipping on scotch, and playing a metaphorical game of chess as Red reveals he has something on Garvey (the bloodied ledger). Early in the series the family canine shape shifted from large golden retriever to mid-size terrier. Jon Bokenkamp coyly explained that they could not find the right breed so they had to substitute.

Really? You couldn’t find a golden retriever anywhere? (even a mutt that looks similar)? 

1) Golden Retriever

2) Terrier

It’s almost like the whole thing was one picture when we started in the fall of 2013 and now it’s a glass window with a crack that keeps growing and slowly shards of glass are falling out of the window frame until the whole thing falls on the floor in hundreds of pieces.

Maybe not.

A scene from ‘The Djinn’ seems to be a clue.

Red: “I am not courageous. Only the poor have courage. Why? Because they are hopeless. To get up every morning to plow a potato field in wartime, to bring kids with no prospects into the world. To live poor – that takes courage.” Ugh. I forget the next line.

Liz: You’re a terrible actor.

Twitter burst into a knowing guffaw. Here Spader, a master thespian, is being goaded by our lovely Ms. Boone, not Reddington being teased by Elizabeth Keen.

Red: [ Laughs ] There’s nothing wrong with my performance. It’s the play. Bertolt Brecht uses the alienation effect to create emotional distance from the audience.” Red tells her he took part in the play “Mother Courage” “Sadly, it was 1991, and audiences were going in droves to see “Cats.”

Red rises from his chair, declares they should get some rest, walks to the bedroom door, opens it, then closes the door neatly behind him. 

Why does he use the door when he could simply step to the side and enter the ‘room’ bypassing the door?

Because the The Blacklist wants you, the viewer, to break the Fourth Wall, the imaginary wall between the actors and audience. 

“You’re looking at it all wrong. Think like a criminal”

All the magic, the sleight of hand, card tricks, rabbits,and hats? In images they are telling us this is a magic show. What you think you see is not what you really should see. Maybe the real story is that we as the audience need to pay attention to the real story and not get so chummy with the characters.

Art is not a mirror with which to reflect reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.   

We, the audience, are looking at it all wrong. 

The Blacklist is not escapism from the dullness of everyday life. This is a show that demands that we think outside the box. And it demands that we see the overall story.

The Blacklist producers have told us the first few episodes contain all the answers we need to solve the ‘puzzle’ of the Blacklist. What are we told in the pilot episode, “Ranko Zamani”? Zamani tells us:

“This is about the children.” 

Zamani tells Red. “Today on this day I am giving their plague back to them.

We think we are being entertained. We think we’re playing with a jigsaw puzzle. But if we stand outside the entertainment as escapism mindset, we can see some really horrific social realities.

The exploitation of children

“The Freelancer” was the second episode to air and what did it feature? A wealthy woman doing humanitarian work shipping her freight, young girls tatooed with her ‘brand name’, in a highly profitable sex trafficking venture. Later, we see Dembe with a similar mark on his back indicating he had also been a victim.

Why weren’t we just as vocal in our outcry by this as we were when a husband slips into his bed and  kisses his child-bride? Red found Dembe in the basement of a brothel tied to a pole having been subjected to horrors we cannot imagine after being abducted as a small child.

And Liz. What happened in her childhood that is so horrific that she has no memory of it?   Do you really believe Dr. Mindsweep came along and took that away? Is this a drama or science fiction? Was what happened in her childhood what will drive her to be the farmer in the parable from The Stewmaker? 

She’s literally taken a page out of Stanley’s playbook as we see her liquify the corpse in a heart-shaped bath of acid.  And now she’s building her team, starting with a rogue psychologist who encourages her to access her dark side. Isn’t she just selecting her chess pieces against Reddington?

“Don’t get too comfortable” Spader warns us in recent interviews.

There’s something more to these shape-shifters, continuity discrepencies, and prop switches. I think we’re going to have to suspend our reliance on reality and time as we know it. Remember the pilot? Liz wakes late only to discover her clock flashing 12:00. Time is both real and not real.

These aren’t fissures in the timeline. Yes, showrunners make mistakes. But this many? The picture we thought we envisioned in the first episode is as we now see it: a mirrored glass with a crack that keeps growing and slowly the whole thing falls on the floor in hundreds of pieces glass shards much like the scene from  “Lady from Shanghai” and when all the pieces fall, we will see the picture for what it really is.

Remember what Red says to Liz when she gives birth to Agnes?

  “It’s the children the world almost breaks who grow up to save it.”

Anna-Gracia was trying to save her part of the world. Will Liz do the same?

Art is not a mirror with which to reflect reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.  

As the mirrors crash all around them, what do we see? 

#the blacklist #theblacklist

[tatianareddington]

Here is the Preview from usmagazine.com article posted by @alyblacklist.

All I can say is - get ready!!!!!

[tatianareddington]

We’re very religious about being honest and true to the mythology of the show, the origins of it, and where we’re planning to go. So, yeah, we’re meticulous about the mythology and maintaining the bible that we’re adding to, and checking against it to make sure we’re not contradicting ourselves in the storytelling.

Jon Bokenkamp

Digital Trends

(via moreryanandjames)

I really hope this is still true... :-(

[tatianareddington]

TBL Timeline 1987-95

Katarina had started pulling away for some time. Reddington abducted Masha because she wouldn't let him see her. But sometime between the abduction and fire night, he had found and hidden the fulcrum. And he knew that Katarina was spying on him and had betrayed him. I think when he discovered the existence of the cabal, he stole the fulcrum and he discovered her role in his life. It devastated him.  

The Timeline from 1987-1995

#The Blacklist

[tatianareddington]

Finding his way back

The locket literally spells it out. "To Katerina, love Papa" Red reads in English. The treasure hunter says, Are you alright? seem a little lost. Red was lost, but the locket, like a compass, has given him direction. He knows where to go. "There's someone I need to see" To Katarina   Love Papa He's going to see Papa. Because he is Katarina.

#TheBlacklist #The Blacklist

[tatianareddington]

Time, Fate, Anachronisms

Red is like a voice from the past, a god-like presence, looking over Liz no matter where she may be, guiding and directing her, seeing the obstacles in her path before she even knows they are there.

Red is from a pre-computer era, his attire, his wristwatch, his turntable and tuner in his funny little apartment. He knows nothing of technology or Star Wars. "You're a walking anachronism" Liz says to Red

anachronism: : an error in chronology especially : a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other.

Did he crawl out from under a rock? If there's some kind of alter ego/multiple-personality, parallel story thing going on then it's possible Red and Liz mirror each other in their journeys. And if Red is Liz's mother, Katarina, then she is coming to her from her past experiences and trying to prevent Liz from repeating the same mistakes she made.The time inconsistencies. The facts that are just slightly off. Sometimes it feels like we're following parallel universes that are on a 10-30 year time slide.

FATE

The girl-- tell me about her. What would you like to know? How did you pick her? Fate. -- Madeline Pratt 01:14 It's like the universe tilted and brought her to me, like it was fated to happen. But It wasn't Fate. It's because of Reddington that Audrey came back into my life. He's why I got three more months with her. -- Mako Tanida 01:16

I remember when I was a pre-teen my older sisters would tell me about their escapades and say, 'Now I'm telling you this so you can learn from my mistakes'. As a parent, I find myself trying to be master of my children's fate: captain of their ship. It's what we do. The ripe apple falls, doesn't know what else to do.

I am the master of my Fate. I am the captain of my soul.

-- Ian Garvey 05:08

For now, you must leave the rest to fate. I make my own Fate. -- Alter Ego 06:05

#TheBlacklist #the Blacklist

[tatianareddington]

I’m cracking up laughing. How can anyone believe Red is innocent of treason? He’s been selling secrets and admitted to selling them, and did so for the sake of building his criminal empire. As much as people would like to believe our Red was framed as Raymond Reddington, he was not. He was framed under his original identity. 

Follow the dialogue. 

Ressler: This highly respected officer up and disappears from the face of the earth. “Until four years later" when classified NOFORN documents start showing up in Maghreb, Islamabad, Beijing. These leaks were traced to Reddington.

Woman: “The man” sold secrets to the Hofstad Network, to the Syrians.

Red: The fact is, American secrets are for sale by an assortment of reputable vendors, myself included.

Red: Understand this was 25 years ago now. I was younger, myself. Intent on building an empire, intent on becoming the powerful criminal (Raymond Reddington) the world had been told I (Katarina Rostova) already was.

And he straight out said it to Jennifer. 

Katarina: The KGB uncovered my affair with Raymond, which means US Intelligence knows as well. Both sides are tracking me down. 

Red: Katarina was a traitor to two countries, both global superpowers.

Red: In 1990, the KGB and the CIA (US Intelligence) had almost nothing in common except the mutual determination to hunt down one individual. Jennifer: You. Red: Being a fugitive (Raymond Reddington) from American law enforcement is a lot easier than being a fugitive (Katarina Rostova) from the two most powerful nations on Earth.

Red didn’t become Raymond Reddington until 1991. 

Jennifer: It’s not the data, but it turns out the file names were coded using patient-intake dates. October 3, 1991. Liz: The date Reddington was admitted. 

I don’t think the writers have to make it any more clearer than this. 

Red: My name is Raymond Reddington. The United States government has placed me atop the country’s list of most-wanted fugitives for a colorful and not uninteresting assortment of crimes, most of which I have committed. That’s who I am.

That’s why they brought in “Oleander” and his CIA investigation. Forsaking THE flag, abandoning YOUR country. “We become who we are.” 

[tatianareddington]

Yes Sir, BITCH

“My colleagues call me SIR” Decisive, direct, smart, a leader: that’s who Elizabeth Keen is. But when her colleagues call her “SIR” they’re not saying it out of respect. They think she’s a BITCH. They rebel at her authority. They’re dismissive of her.

You think a MAN needs to explain that? You think a MAN would tilt her head down as if being called SIR and a BITCH is SHAMEFUL? Now you have the lead man thinking this punk kid coming in has no credibility. She calls out on his failure to capture the criminal:

Liz: I think we need to contact the SWAT commander at Quantico, roll the team out for the girl. Ressler: This is nonsense, he’s bluffing, sir. Liz: No he’s establishing value. Ressler: I’ve been on this case, Agent Keen, for five years, trust me... Liz: Yeah, five years has gotten you what? You asked me here you asked my opinion here it is, that girl is gonna get taken.

And DAYM, she’s RIGHT. She’s not a bitch. She’s a genius. 

She’s a CHAMPION

At their worst, men are called “ARROGANT” Women, “INEPT” We have a long way to go...

https://hbr.org/2018/05/the-different-words-we-use-to-describe-male-and-female-leaders

#TheBlacklist #The Blacklist

[tatianareddington]

“I would challenge you to a battle of wits, but I see you are unarmed!” ― William Shakespeare

God he was funny!

[tatianareddington]

The Hidden Years

1990 late winter In February or March of 1990, Katarina Rostova walked into the ocean in Cape May and disappeared forever, leaving behind only her clothes and a locket.

December 1989 Flashback to 1989, Carla Reddington and her daughter had been living happily in their perfect American dream home, with Jennifer’s perfect pink room, and a perfectly wonderful pet dog. Carla and Jennifer are quite accustomed to Raymond’s frequent, absences for his job. Carla married well. He was going to make admiral.

Except it wasn’t that perfect. He was being advanced to admiral. But he had a dark side. And because of it, Carla was a miserable housewife. No matter what, Raymond was a ‘golden boy’. Untouchable. No matter what he did to her, no one would believe her. (see Requiem; You need to report the son of a bitch. Slap a restraining order on him. It's not that simple. He's a state judge.)

To add insult to injury, Carla discovered that her husband and his lover had made the family cabin into their love nest. (Charlene and family cabin). Worse yet, they have a daughter together. Elizabeth. But Carla’s daughter Jennifer adores her daddy, and Carla will do anything to keep her daughter safe and happy.

In the meantime, Katarina Rostova was being pursued by two countries. She had to abandon her daughter, cut ties with the family nanny, and fake her own death. How could she possibly survive?

The Fulcrum, “It’s the only thing keeping me alive” Raymond tells her as they argue that fateful night. If she can keep Raymond Reddington ‘alive’ she could keep herself alive.

Early 1990 After Katarina’s disappearance, she contacts Carla and threatens her if Carla does not comply.  She tells Carla she will protect her and her daughter and leave them alone forever but Carla is never to speak a word about Elizabeth.  She tells Carla there had been a fire. Raymond Reddington was dead. She tells Carla, soon they will be coming for you.

They make a pact. We will keep Raymond alive. Carla will provide Katarina with his personal effects, they compare notes on his proclivities, his habits. They create a plausible profile. And the two of them make him alive. Phone calls. Routines. Letters. They are the ghosts of Raymond Reddington. They keep him alive as long as they can.

But the government is anxious for an answer and start breathing down Carla’s neck, where is your husband? They froze her assets. No matter how much they pressed her, they got nothing, and what they were really after was the fulcrum.

But an ominous warning. One of Katarina’s associates is killed and a photo placed on the body. Alan Fitch was setting up ‘Reddington’ and closing in on him to make him the enemy. To squeeze the fulcrum out of him.

Christmas of 1990, front page news: this ‘well-respected’ officer abandoned his wife and daughter on Christmas. Who does that to their family?

Katarina had been ‘playing’ Reddington for almost the whole of 1990 but had to go ‘underground’. From the experience of being able to convince others that he was alive, she became overconfident in her ability to pass as the real Raymond Reddington. For that, she would need more training.

Enter Greta, the theatre owner with whom Katarina became close friends.

1991 - Katarina “was completely swept up in the idealism of the theatre owner-- a pipe-smoking cream puff of a German named Gerta.” (The Djinn) There is no place like the theatre for gender flexibility. I don’t remember too many women in 1991 who were smoking pipes. We weren’t even smoking cigars. A cream puff evokes such sensuality! And a pipe evokes a manly old man! Greta had no difficulty possessing qualities along a spectrum.

Katarina was enthralled with this magnificent woman! Greta read "Mother Courage" to her aloud-- the whole play in one sitting. Katarina took refuge in the safest place for one who is exploring their identity: the theatre.

October 1991 - In those 10 months after Reddington’s ‘disappearance’, Katarina lived under the wings of her mentor and learned how to act “like a man” and further, found the people who could help her transition to a male. It was in the comfort of her newfound home that she began hormone replacement to deepen her voice, develop facial hair, strengthen her features. It also gave her plenty of opportunity to find the plastic surgeon of the criminal underworld, to begin a new identity. A new face. So she could begin a new life.

In the image of Raymond Reddington.

#theblacklist

[tatianareddington]

I AM THE LION

Fear is a liar

You are of your father the devil,

he is a liar and the father of lies.

It activates the enemy.

the devil, your enemy, prowls around like a roaring lion

seeking someone to devour.

I am the lion, afterall.

#TheBlacklist #The Blacklist

[tatianareddington]

Redarina - Transitioning

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lxFRxn95MTpp8q0yDBUbsx0OGBOlk2L_v8rU15dXLmc/edit?usp=sharing

#Theblacklist